communciation paper

Communication

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Cultural value

Cultural values are important aspect in any mode of communication especially when it comes to communication in multinational and multicultural set up. Kelly Richardson, an American Accountant who was an oversea employee at Barclays in United Kingdom, and I was able to interview him on certain aspect of cultural values and communication in United Kingdom which he found to be unique and different from what is practiced in the United States. In the interview the areas that we basically touched on included; the personal attitude of the communication whether it creates any problem, the values that the employees have and whether they are different from the organization values. The interview also touched on the different conversations and behavior of the employees at Barclays, and the corporate communication. Below is how the conversation took place

Question: As a foreign employee in the United Kingdom and working for such a huge multinational, are your attitudes creating problem in communication?

Richardson: The British community is mostly inclined towards common conversation that is appreciative of the nature and beauty, which to me is not something which is much acquainted to me. In most of the conversations I find myself in a unique position where my sentiments and attitude about what is happening is different from what my counterparts who are British cultured. Usually this is common when it comes to dealing with issues related to comment on nature and appearance. They are keen on people’s dressing which to me is something that only complements appearance rather than being an important part of appearance.

Question: Are there values that are up held by different people in the organization which are different from what you have encountered before

Richardson: The people are more future oriented and they see the value of appearance as the most importance element that shows age. They are people who are more concerned with relationships than I had been raised to believe. They are not as individualistic as my culture is. At my place people are more concerned with what I can do rather than what we can do.

Question: Are there different rules for conversation by participants, or certain dressing and behavior

Richardson: In every organization there are instances when people are engaged in small talk at the sidelines, during tea break, lunch break or even after important company meetings. During these conversations there are different patterns of talk which basically can be used to fit in a certain specific condition as required by the culture. There is importance of understanding cultural context in proper communication especially when it comes to the non-formal form of communication such as small talk. It is the nature of communication which is associated to success by most Britons, and that is the reason as to why they take all forms of communication so seriously be it at the official communication or even when they are engaged in pep talks within the organization.

Question: How does the organization observe communication through chain of command?

Richardson: If there are people who are so keen on cultural etiquette are the Britons. They are overly formal and they have a corporate culture which extends to all the members of the organization. There is a certain level of importance when it comes to the observation of protocol and they schedule meetings in advance with notices given in advance. This becomes quite difficult for an expatriate employee who has come into the country for the first time and has to be punctual in meetings, with details in every formal form of presentations to the superiors.

Based on the above interview there are certain elements of culture which are evident and which will be the core aspect when it comes to the discussion of the cultural values and corporate communication as it is done by the Britons which is contrary to other nations. In Business communication in UK just as it has been stated by Richardson is mostly format, and there is high consideration of protocol by all the employees (Goodman, 2014). Though there are newer companies which have taken up the idea of being much more progressive, majority of them such as Barclay are still focused on the old boy network style with ties on universities and families.

There are certain researches which have been able to find out that there is connection between communication with those outcomes in an organization which are attributed to communication and the entire organizational climate. It is therefore important to understand that questionnaires such as that used above can only be able to offer overall result and not provide the specific applicability to certain dimension (Goodman, 2014). There are certain communication dimensions which cannot be applied in countries that are traditionally European such as United Kingdom.

Culture is an elaborate and complex system of behavior and meaning, which defines the way of life for a particular society or group. Individual culture symbolizes the value that the members broadly see as important. The value of a society can always be identified by noting the people that receive respect or honor. The cultural values are a bit similar to the norms of culture, but they are more abstract and global than the norms. Norms give rules relating to behavior in certain situations while the cultural value gives people a chance to determine what should be judged as evil or good (Hislop, 2013). Cultural values are abstract concept regarding what is worthwhile and important. Change in the cultural value has the ability to affect attitude and belief of any worker. The cultural value of the United King is very compared to that of the United States.

One cultural value of the United Kingdom is the appreciation for aesthetics. Aesthetic relates to philosophy, and it involves dealing with the nature of taste, beauty, and art, with the appreciation and creation of beauty. It is always referred to as the study of sensory-emotional or sensory values. This is sometimes called the judgment of taste and sentiment. The people from the United Kingdom appreciate the aesthetic. They appreciate the excellence and beauty. This cultural value gives people the ability to get, notice, and get pleasure in the goodness that comes from social and physical world. Classification of character and value helps to strengthen. Appreciation of excellence and beauty is a character strength that will help to lead to transcendence. Transcendence entails allowing people to go beyond connecting with others together with the larger universe. This will cause the individuals to have a life that is very meaningful.

The other cultural value in the United Kingdom is intellectualism. This refers to associating the intellect with superior to the will. The basic factor, in this case, is the intellect, and this applies both in the human and in universe conduct. Intellectualism is always contrasted to voluntarism. Through this, the will is regarded to be superior compared to intellect and emotion. The people in the region also have certain elements of rationalism. The people see reasons as being the main drive behind knowledge or sometimes justification (Hislop, 2013). This value makes the people have an attitude of devotion. Apart from this attitude, it also creates high regards when it comes to intellectual pursuits. This is always accompanied by the connotation associated with excessive regards. This is the lack of the emotional coldness of emotion. The people believe that in order for them to practice what is best or right, they must understand what is considered to be the best or right. Virtue is viewed as being purely intellectual matter.

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Corporate communication

Organizations that do not recognize corporate communication are likely to face many problems. The businesses can be compared to mousetraps that are kept in the middle of the wood. In an organization, face-to-face communication is always important. The process of introduction depends on circumstances of a certain situation. Starting a communication person who is new can turn out to be a daunting preposition. This is because of British cultural expectations and norms. It is always good to begin a conversation with a topic that is neutral (Brønn, 2013). An example of the neutral topic is weather or something that seems to be dictated by the situation that is immediate, such as requesting for a recommendation regarding something to eat or to do. It is also good to begin a conversation with a question that is open compared to the assumption that is subjective. Many people from the United Kingdom are open-mined and tolerant. As a way of creating good business relations, individuals turn out to be very friendly and open-minded in the country. There is cultural openness in the country. In order to succeed in the face-to-face communication, the parties must be committed. A person should not think of him or herself as the only objective conveyor of information. Doing this will make one look like a source of Spam. The opinion of a person should be well expressed, and one should have a stake in the outcome of communication. During the communication process, one should demonstrate value through have the ability to debate the issue in order to give it a good support.

The language is very important in corporate communication. English the official language in the United Kingdom. It is the language that is predominantly spoken. English is the language that is being spoken, and there are times that there will be elements of linguistic differences. In the business, it is important to have knowledge of the language. This is possible by have some interpreting facilities available. Throughout the United Kingdom, dialects and accent of the people vary very much. This difference in dialects and accent may make it very difficult even for a native English speaker in verbal communication. It is always important for one to become familiar with some phrases that are common. In the organization, it is acceptable for a person to ask for an explanation regarding anything that is not well understood. One can even ask the speaker to speak slowly. In British managers, foreign language competence is very poor. This is why in the past most of the British companies were carrying out business with other businesses that are only speaking English. This made the British managers to only speak English and neglect the other languages. Many managers and business professionals are becoming aware that ignorance of foreign language is becoming a serious barrier to communication. This also extends even when it comes to extending the business to other parts of the world. The government of United Kingdom has become aware of this problem. The government is aware that is this problem persists then the issue of poor language skills has the ability of negatively impacting the ability of the country to protect and promote abroad interest. It is argued that lack of ability to understand the audience will make one not to have the capability of persuading others. The information that is to be communicated should be well known (Cornelissen, 2014). The information should then be clearly communicated because communication is usually important to the audience. In relation to other languages, when it comes to certain technical, legal, or business terms misunderstanding are common, especially when one is communication with people who are coming from other disciplines.

The personal title is another important thing a corporate communication. In the United Kingdom, the people always address each other in informal way during day-to-day communication. This is done using the first name of the person. This is an outcome of the flat organizational structure. This encourages a working environment that is very friendly. This is always done so as to facilitate a friendly team work. This is important in ensuring there is a good communication in the organization. This also relies on the culture of the individual organization. There are other events where certain naming etiquette has to be tooked at very keenly. “In addition to social titles (Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms), professional and academic titles (Prof. and Dr.) the UK makes use of honorary titles (Sir, Dame, etc.) and hereditary titles (Duke, Earl, Lady, etc.), and When meeting your business partners for the first time it is more appropriate to use their surnames following the title for example: Mr (for men), Mrs (for women) and Miss or Ms (for unmarried women)” (Brønn, 2013, p. 57).

It is always important to be memorable while communicating, especially with the client. This is important because during the process of communication the clients consider the business communication as if they are white noise coming from the background. This means that the information does not stick in the minds of the customers. In order to be different during the communication process, it is important to do the thing that will make the information stick in the minds of the customers. This should take place even after the communication process stops. The communication in the organization should also be brief. If it is a meeting, the presentation should not be very long. Good presentation is one that is sweet and very short. The information that is being given to the audience should be enough, and the person giving the information should give his or her stand in the end. The information being passed in the organization should be very comprehensive (Cornelissen, 2014). This will be achieved when the information is covering every possible detail ensuring that no part is left out. This will make the process of communication to be effective within the organization.

References

Boer, D., & Fischer, R. (2013). How and when do personal values guide our attitudes and

sociality? Explaining cross-cultural variability in attitude–value linkages. Psychological bulletin, 139(5), 11-17.

Brønn, P. S. (2013). Corporate reputation and the discipline of corporate communication. The

handbook of communication and corporate reputation, 53-61.

Cornelissen, J. (2014). Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

Goodman, M. (2014). Corporate communication theory and practice. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Hislop, D. (2013). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. London,

UK: Oxford University Press.